Goodreads asked Joshua Cox-Steib:

If you could travel to any fictional book world, where would you go and what would you do there?

Joshua Cox-Steib This is a subtly disturbing question. Much of what I read is based in fictional worlds with levels of human suffering that dwarf our own by far, though the authors don't always dwell on it. It comes down to the dilemma of writing a utopian story; when everything is good, what story of interest is there? How do you engage readers without needing to disrupt your utopia?

There are books out there that confront the challenge of those questions, but they aren't what my mind settled on. There are a lot of books that go with a progression from dystopian towards utopian. Stranger in a Strange Land comes to mind, though the elements of dystopia are somewhat subtle. The book follows a progression of human intolerance but closes on what is simultaneously a scene of hate-fueled violence while also being the demarcation of a shift towards tolerance, love, and growth. I think that world would be a good one to visit about twenty to thirty years after the book ended.

And what would I there? Why study the Martian language, of course. While not singular in its conceptualization, the way that patterns of thought are tied into language and into the possibilities of how one can interact with reality is exceptionally well done in this book.

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